Prior to this invention punches for piercing or forming metal articles were made by taking a bar or rod and machining a punch from the bar or rod. As a result of the large amount of metal removed during the machining operation, the material to produce a punch was costly. In addition, the required machining operations were expensive. Due to high material, manufacturing and attendant labor costs, punches made by the prior art methods have been expensive. Furthermore, if a punch failed to produce the expected number of piercing and forming operations the punch costs for such reduced operations were high.